The former treasurer of the century-old St. Luke Lutheran Church in New Edinburgh denies he embezzled more than $600,000 in church funds and claims he invested the money in a property development deal that went sour.

In a statement of defence filed with the Ontario Superior Court, retired public servant Barton (Bart) Burron claims that he had the church’s best interests at heart but was hoodwinked by a big-talking business partner.

The Church claims that Burron embezzled the money and used at least some of it to pay off, or down, the mortgage on his own home.

St. Luke’s, which says the money represented the bulk of its assets, has moved to have all of Burron’s bank accounts frozen.

Burron, an accountant and former employee of the Auditor General of Canada’s office, was church treasurer for about 30 years.

In his defence, Burron says that he was “instructed and authorized” to make investment decisions for St. Luke’s but that church governors failed to give him any policies, guidelines, limitations or restrictions related to how he invested the money.

Burron says he bought a development property on Springhurst Road in Ottawa with his own money and a personal bank loan but admits he had no experience in property development and that his only other effort at business was a failed fast-food franchise.

The church treasurer says he brought in design and building professionals and paid them with his own money and cash from two partners — neither of them a church member.

As the “strong potential for the development became more apparent” and “all indications were that the project would be highly profitable” Burron says, he began moving church funds into the project.

“The decision was made in the best interests of the plaintiff (the church),” says the defence statement.

Burron, who initially moved the money into his own personal account, says all “investments” were properly recorded in the church financial records.

According to Burron, a third partner came on the scene claiming to have contacts with a foreign embassy.

Barron says the new partner persuaded him to expand the development project to attract the foreign diplomats who were searching for a new location for their embassy. He doesn’t name the country.

The new partner, experienced in real estate development, persuaded him that while more expensive, the new project would be significantly more profitable.

Burron says he moved the money into an account controlled by the developer who then arranged extra financing through Westboro Mortgage Investment Corp.

Throughout 2013, says the defence statement, the partner persuaded Burron that the project was proceeding as planned but that toward the end of the year the partner stopped returning the treasurer’s phone calls or responding to emails.

The property deal had collapsed, says Burron, and Westboro, wanting to recoup its money, sold the Springhurst property by power of sale.

At that point, Burron says, he immediately resigned as church treasurer and handed back their books, which he kept at his home.

The church, apparently skeptical of the “unscrupulous developer” story, has an entirely different version of events and claims that Burron took the money and labelled each advance a “loan or investment” and never disclosed that he was paying it into his own account.

“Now that Bart has lost the money,” says the church in its counter to Burron, “he chooses to call it an ‘investment’ in order to avoid repaying the money, which is part and parcel of his fraud.

“Bart created an atmosphere of trust and confidence while, at the same time, he embezzled the bulk of the plaintiff’s assets and put them in his own name without proper disclosure or consent.”

The church says Burron continued to take money after the alleged property deal fell apart and also claims that he used the St. Luke’s debit card to buy groceries, LCBO products and lunches without permission and “completely beyond what Bart was entitled to charge to the plaintiff.

“The plaintiff trusted our treasurer as he was a professional with high credentials and an impressive work history. As a chartered accountant, the plaintiff understood Bart would comply with his professional code of ethics.”

The “embezzled funds” were used to purchase, improve or pay off mortgages on a property at 13 Montcalm St. in Ottawa owned by Burron and his numbered company, the church alleges in its statement of claim.

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